Do you remember the television program, Romper Room? It was broadcast in Winston-Salem on Channel 12 at noon weekdays. And the programs were filmed at the WSJS Television studio on Spruce Street.
It was a local program, with local children, but it was part of a much larger Romper Room organization that broadcast from many cities all over the United States. The television series was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. Preschool-aged children were the target audience. The program was created and produced by Bert Claster and his wife, Nancy, of Claster Television. Romper Room was also franchised internationally and appeared at various times in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Finland, New Zealand, and Australia.
There was a national telecast, but local affiliates could produce their own versions of the show instead of airing the national telecast. The program was originally filmed in Baltimore, then moved to Chicago, and then returned to Baltimore. Shown above is a local Romper Room advertisement from Richmond, Virginia. The Mattel Jack-in-the-box image was used in the opening and closing of the program, and “Pop Goes the Weasel” was the theme song.
Each program opened with a greeting from the hostess, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The programs were either 30 or 60 minutes in length, and would include games, exercises, songs, story-telling, and moral lessons. There was background music, provided by “Mr. Music.” The hostesses were addresses as “Miss,” and the show mascot was “Mr. Do-Bee.” Mr. Do-Bee was a bumblebee whose job it was to teach the children proper deportment. The hostess would start a sentence such as, “Do Bee polite to others,” as an example of good behavior. “Mr. Don’t-Bee” told the children how to not behave, such as “Don’t Bee a grabber.”
Snack time consisted of milk and cookies served by the hostess, in mugs with the Romper Room logo on the front. The mugs were given to the children who participated in the program at the end of their time on the program. The children said a prayer before they ate their snacks, “God is great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.”
At the end of the program, the hostess would pick up a mirror, called a “magic mirror,” and recite this rhyme, “Romper, stomper, bomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play?” Then, magically, the hostess was holding a mirror that was just an open frame, and she began naming the children that she “saw” in television land. “I can see (first name of child),” and she would say several names. Children would listen for their names to be mentioned and were encouraged to submit their names for inclusion on the program.
In Winston-Salem, one of the hostesses in the 1950s was “Miss Melissa.” The photo above shows Miss Melissa, but she is on the Charlotte Romper Room at the time of the photo, which was about 1962. So she could have moved to Charlotte, as she does resemble the Winston-Salem Miss Melissa.
Do you have personal reminiscences of Romper Room, either as a viewer or as a participant on the program? If so, please comment.
Stay tuned for the next historical post on May 8th: Then and Now: Interstate 40 Construction.
Bob Gordan hosted a children’s program on the former television station, WSJS. My husband worked at WSJS television which was located on Spruce Street before moving to Colosseum Drive and renaming to WXII.